Computer-aided techniques include Computer-Aided Design or CAD, which relates to software solutions for authoring product design. Similarly, CAE is an acronym for Computer-Aided Engineering, e.g. it relates to software solutions for simulating the physical behavior of a future product. CAM stands for Computer-Aided Manufacturing and typically includes software solutions for defining manufacturing processes and operations.
A number of systems and programs are offered on the market for the design of parts or assemblies of parts, forming a product, such as the one provided by Dassault Systemes under the trademark CATIA. These CAD systems allow a user to construct and manipulate complex three dimensional (3D) models of objects or assemblies of objects. CAD systems thus provide a representation of modeled objects using edges or lines, in certain cases with faces. Lines or edges may be represented in various manners, e.g. non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS). These CAD systems manage parts or assemblies of parts as modeled objects, which are essentially specifications of geometry. Specifically, CAD files contain specifications, from which geometry is generated, which in turn allow for a representation to be generated. Specifications, geometry and representation may be stored in a single CAD file or multiple ones. CAD systems include graphic tools for representing the modeled objects to the designers; these tools are dedicated to the display of complex objects—the typical size of a file representing an object in a CAD system being in the range of one Megabyte per part, and an assembly may comprise thousands of parts. A CAD system manages models of objects, which are stored in electronic files.
In computer-aided techniques, the graphical user interface (GUI) plays an important role as regards the efficiency of the technique.
Also known are Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, which refer to a strategy that helps companies to share product data, apply common processes, and leverage corporate knowledge for the development of products from conception to the end of their life, across the concept of extended enterprise. By including the actors (company departments, business partners, suppliers, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), and customers), PLM may allow this network to operate as a single entity to conceptualize, design, build, and support products and processes.
Some PLM solutions make it for instance possible to design and develop products by creating digital mockups (a 3D graphical model of a product). For instance, the digital product may be first defined and simulated using an appropriate application. Then, the lean digital manufacturing processes may be defined and modeled.
The PLM solution provided by Dassault Systemes (under the trademarks CATIA, ENOVIA and DELMIA) provides an Engineering Hub, which organizes product engineering knowledge, a Manufacturing Hub, which manages manufacturing engineering knowledge, and an Enterprise Hub which enables enterprise integrations and connections into both the Engineering and Manufacturing Hubs. All together the system delivers an open object model linking products, processes, resources to enable dynamic, knowledge-based product creation and decision support that drives optimized product definition, manufacturing preparation, production and service. Such PLM solutions comprise a relational database of products. The database comprises a set of data and relations between the data. Data typically include technical data related to the products said data being ordered in a hierarchy of data and are indexed to be searchable. The data are representative of the modeled objects, which are often modeled products and processes.
Product lifecycle information, including product configuration, process knowledge and resources information are typically intended to be edited in a collaborative way.
To this respect, a collaborative workspace can be defined as an interconnected environment in which participants in the product lifecycle (design and also marketing, sales, manufacturing, OEMs, suppliers, and customers) can access and interact with each other's “In-Work” designs, thereby enhancing communication through exchange, direct use, simulation and validation in 2D, 3D or textual environment.
Product data management (PDM) or Virtual Product data management (VPDM) systems refer to tools used to control access to and manage all product definition data, including the manufacturing processes. This is achieved by maintaining product information (or meta-data).
A PDM solution, such as the one sold under the name ENOVIA, may automatically capture and manage product information and facilitates collaboration throughout the enterprise and across the value chain.
It may further integrate people and processes by automating and tracking standard workflows within an organization and its supply chain, driving efficiency and accountability, and facilitating standards compliance.
For example, the user may wish to know where a product, e.g. a braking pedal, is also used, that is, in which other models it is embedded. A standard CAD tools enable a user to navigate between parts or products mainly according to the “is composed of” relation. Databases used in PDM systems enable queries to be made on various types of relation between parts or product and the scope of navigation of the databases is the widest possible. In practice, the user can have access to all the parts, products, assemblies processes, people, and, from a general standpoint, any data related to the manufactured goods through their lifecycle.
Nevertheless, databases do usually not allow the user to easily navigate since the data do not have a graphical representation. Data are identified by file names or types and those names may not be relevant enough to identify precisely the items that the user is looking for.
For the sake of completeness, a database is defined usually as a collection of data or information organized for rapid search and retrieval, especially by a computer. Databases are structured to facilitate storage, retrieval, modification, and deletion of data in conjunction with various data-processing operations. A database consists of a file or set of files that can be broken down into records, each of which consists of one or more fields. Fields are the basic units of data storage. Users retrieve database information primarily through queries. Using keywords and sorting commands, users can rapidly search, rearrange, group, and select the field in many records to retrieve or create reports on particular aggregates of data according to the rules of the database management system being used.
During the various routine steps of design, a user may have to trigger numerous and/or different visualizations of a set of modeled objects in order to better understand it, prepare to take further steps in the design work and, subsequently, check the consistency of his work, etc.
In order to work on a model or a product structure for instance, a user has to be able to know or identify some information parameters of one or more parts of the product such as the name and the locker name of said parts, the maturity level of those parts, and so on. How important is his awareness of those information parameters is increased in the case of a modeling process carried out in a collaborative way, i.e. with other remote users working on and sharing the same model.
In the environment of PLM, the amount of information to be dealt with is considerable. Part of this information may be accessed through the “Properties” option when right-clicking on the relevant part. However, if the user wishes to know locker names and version numbers of various parts, he has to select and check all those parts one at a time. The user may further sometimes ignore the name of the parts, making it difficult to retrieve them. Moreover, not all information is available through said “Properties” option. Thus, the user has to switch to a product data management database in order to retrieve the information parameters, for example, which parts are locked. Once the information is retrieved, he then has to go back to the edition window to keep on working on his project which is time and resource consuming.
There is therefore a need for a better optimized process for modeling an object in the field of PLM, allowing a user to more efficiently access and identify a set of necessary information related to the modeled objects.